TORONTO — Don’t bury the Toronto Maple Leafs just yet.
Auston Matthews delivered the overtime dagger Friday after seeing his teammates improbably score three goals in the final four minutes of regulation with Frederik Andersen on the bench for an extra attacker, securing a 4-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets to force a deciding Game 5 in this qualifying series.
That will be played here at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday night.
Toronto flipped the script that played out here 24 hours earlier, when it squandered a 3-0 lead of its own in Game 3 and lost in overtime.
This was even harder to believe for the fortunate few of us allowed in the building to witness it because the Leafs seemingly had no life whatsoever. They appeared ready to leave the NHL bubble quietly until lightning struck.
First William Nylander beat Elvis Merzlikins at 16:03 of the third period, then captain John Tavares picked the top corner with a great shot at 16:54 and finally Zach Hyman squeaked a shot through Merzlikins’s five-hole at 19:37.
Those goals were scored on Toronto’s final three shots of the third period.
Matthews finished the job at 13:10 of overtime on a power play, sneaking in on the right side and burying a Tavares saucer pass.
Columbus had appeared to suck the life out of the Leafs with an early Cam Atkinson goal and a pinballing Vladislav Gavrikov point shot that beat Andersen early in the second period. Boone Jenner put Columbus up 3-0 with 5:42 left in regulation, which appeared to seal the Leafs fate.
